Hasbro can't and won't try to shut down EqD. They're a news site, not content creators. I haven't been keeping up with Fighting Is Magic's development at all, were they thinking about commercializing it in anyway? Also, for every fanwork that Hasbro deems to be in violation, ten thousand go unmolested.

As for today's episode, I liked it a lot. It reminded me of season one in a very good way.

piwakawaka42 wrote:Didn't like the new ep, too predictable. My thoughts on the fighting is magic: Hasbro has been shutting a lot of stuff down lately-I wonder how long before they go for EqD. They seem to have finally realized that having an adult fandom for a kid's cartoon causes too many problems for the target, money-making audience. (Also, anyone else thought that the reference count was dropping off a wee bit? And Derpy vanishing? They want us gone.). Leaving the fandom before I get my arse sued by Hasbro. It's been good while it lasted.

Heh, I actually thought you were serious for a moment.

Iulus Cofield wrote:I haven't been keeping up with Fighting Is Magic's development at all, were they thinking about commercializing it in anyway?

No, they didn't even accept donations. They did have something to do with raising $5000 for charity, though...but that's FOR CHARITY.

Today's episode was enjoyable. I agree with Vaniver's opinion of the conclusion, but I LOVED the tie-in with the previous episode. And not just because it was a tie-in, but also because of the context of Twilight's line about Spike staying calm and collected.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

That makes the cease and desist a little strange. I would think they would qualify for fair use and I hadn't heard of Hasbro shutting down any other free fanworks. I'm suring Fighting team could easily raise the money for some very basic legal representation.

They weren't sent a C&D for copyright infringement, though; they were sent a C&D for trademark infringement (using the name of the show and the names of the characters). Copyright has exemptions for fair use. Trademark does not. Which sucks majorly.

Stephen Hawking: Great. The entire universe was destroyed.Fry: Destroyed? Then where are we now?Al Gore: I don't know. But I can darn well tell you where we're not—the universe!

I don't have a link to hand, but apparently Lauren Faust tweeted at the FiM people asking if they'd like her to create some OCs to put in the game in place of the Mane 6. If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to the thinly-veiled but creator-designed expies.

On this episode,

Spoiler:

Definitely a bit predictable, but I like the tie-in with the previous episode and a few other continuity nods, and I agree that the decision to award the games is a bit of an odd one (will the games themselves be a future episode? probably).

piwakawaka42 wrote:My thoughts on the fighting is magic: Hasbro has been shutting a lot of stuff down lately-I wonder how long before they go for EqD. They seem to have finally realized that having an adult fandom for a kid's cartoon causes too many problems for the target, money-making audience. (Also, anyone else thought that the reference count was dropping off a wee bit? And Derpy vanishing? They want us gone.). Leaving the fandom before I get my arse sued by Hasbro. It's been good while it lasted.

On the contrary - this season has been nothing but "references" or fan-service or whatever you choose to call it. Virtually every episode seems to have been tailored to address something or another that fans have gone on about - Scoot and Dash getting together, Trixie returning, Discord returning, Dash getting a shot at the Wonderbolts, Applejack episode and song, return of all the pets, and so on. If you look to background stuff, you have even more, like Big Mac and Cheerilee out for a walk together, the screwball pony from the reading episode coming back, etc.

Derpy has been there, but you just have to look a lot harder to find her. Makes sense since the best way to get rid of the uproar is to hide it away.

I'm certain that the reason these C&Ds are happening is because Hasbro is obligated to protect their trademark, lest they lose it. That's a tenet of trademark law - you can't ask for protection without actually protecting it. I'd be genuinely shocked if Hasbro were to go after EQD or other fan-sites which don't actually look to profit from their content (or create a derivative work, like Fighting was going to be). If they were to get EQD shut down, logic dictates they would have to go after other sites like Transformers fan forums, of which there are countless examples which have been around for longer than any of the MLP:FiM stuff has been.

I would avoid sweating it for the time being. Besides it not being worth the elevated blood pressure and agitation, the likelihood is that it's not as drastic as you think.

Again, EqD isn't in violation of any laws. Anyone can use a trademark in reference to the actual product/image/character, so news sites are immune under ordinary circumstances. Fighting was pretty polished last I saw a video of it, so I can see how Hasbro would think that average consumers could mistake it for an official Hasbro product, which is exactly what trademarks are supposed to protect. Still, I hope they can work out some kind of licensing with Hasbro so they can finish it.

If this is some kind of tactic that Hasbro is using to get money out of the game...I don't really know how to feel. On one hand, I'll be pissed and probably not want to give them any of my money...but on the other hand, I would totally be willing to pay $20 to play that game.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

The Scyphozoa wrote:If this is some kind of tactic that Hasbro is using to get money out of the game...I don't really know how to feel. On one hand, I'll be pissed and probably not want to give them any of my money...but on the other hand, I would totally be willing to pay $20 to play that game.

Most likely not. I get the impression that mane6 was totally willing to talk to Hasbro, but Hasbro was not willing / able to talk to mane6. One of the troubles with being a huge corporation is that it makes it difficult to converse with tiny companies.

And, from their point of view, even if they wanted to back fan projects rather than have complete creative control, Fighting Is Magic represents some rather serious brand dilution, in a way that the pony-based Harvest Moon knockoff didn't. Would a MLP-based fighting game have a positive or negative impact on their toy / other game sales? Hard to say.

Jorpho wrote:Why not just make little changes to all the names – Twilight Sprinkles and so on – and then make it Extremely Easy for the end-user to change the names back?

They would have to change the names, appearance (both cutie marks and coloration), and even then using the exact same artistic style might be infringement. Even the name is a clear reference that might have to be dropped.

Daniel Ingram writes the music for the songs, but the writer of the episode writes the lyrics. Winter Wrap Up was Cindy Morrow, this episode was M. A. Larson. And IMO the only good songs are WWU, Art of the Dress, At the Gala, and Cider Squeezy.

(Haven't watched the new episode yet BTW. Downloading now.)

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

The songs were decent enough, I think it's more that they didn't tie into the episodes very well, rather than the music itself. The songs in this episode could have been part of the first episode of season 1 and would still have made sense. It was just a distraction rather than aiding the story as "art of the dress", "winter wrap up", or the find a pet song do.

Overall I was quite disappointed with the characterisation this season, and didn't enjoy most of the episodes as much as season 2 (Too Many Pinkie Pies and Wonderbolts Acadamy being notable exceptions). There's been a lot of weak resolutions to conflicts, and in this episode it seems they didn't even bother with a conflict. It was an ok episode, but weak compared to the awesome 2 part finales we've had before.

Spoiler:

The alicorn thing was crazy, but seeing as twilight has basically been a Mary Sue for some time now, I'm not sure it really changes things that much, except for the weird power dynamic between her and pretty much everyone else in the show now she's a princess.

I hope in season 4 equestria starts a war or something, because seriously, Celestia is friggin insane.

Me too. I was looking for a forum to do exactly what you did above, glad you found one.

Whether fans (bronies) realize it or not, season 3 was entirely for their benefit. As I've said before, virtually everything that happened this season was to address something or other that fans wanted, inquired about, or ruminated on.

Makes me wonder.. does that mean S4 will be more of the same, or "we gave you your season of rewards, enjoy it, because we're making a left turn now"?

Jay911 wrote:Whether fans (bronies) realize it or not, season 3 was entirely for their benefit. As I've said before, virtually everything that happened this season was to address something or other that fans wanted, inquired about, or ruminated on.

Except for a Rarity episode.

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

1. So many songs! It felt like half the episode was devoted to songs which, as stated above, don't advance the plot. The first one is entirely "Gosh everything's going nicely it would be a shame if something ironically indicated a massive problem right while I was singing about the current lack of them".2. Given that we've lost 50% of the episode to song, that leaves practically no time for plot - and having done so, we get barely any anyway because it's all rushing us through to the alicorn stuff. While normally I'm happy to complain about plots being the kind that can be wrapped up in 5 minutes if not for the stupidity of the characters, that doesn't mean I actually *want* to see the plot wrapped up that quickly, it means I want to see a better plot!3. The quick roster checks, where each of the other main ponies has 1.4 seconds to say or do something in-character to remind us that they're there.

The bits I actually liked of "Magical Mystery Cure":

Spoiler:

1. The plot, while it lasted, *was* good. And it's open to a bit of interpretation, too - the failed spell suggests that you *can* change a ponies destiny by changing their cutie mark, but it also looks like in most cases this isn't a good thing. But what if there was a pony who didn't like their special talent? And fixing everything by getting them to help each other and then "locking in" the fix using the Elements of Harmony is a perfect resolution.2. The songs were good as always, even if I wish there hadn't been so many of them.3. Some great lines, including the already-mentioned "liquid pride".

All in all, I'm still going to trust the writers to make the best of what they've got to work with, and I hope they acknowledge the new power dynamic in the cast and try to work out what it means (which should be a few episodes in itself, possibly what Meghan is alluding to).

2. The episode felt rushed. The songs seemed to speed the episode up a bit too fast. Personally, it should have been a two-part or even a three-part episode.

3. Many have compared the opening song to the opening song in the "South Park" movie; I thought it was similar to the song Belle sang in "Beauty and the Beast" when she walks through the town.

4. Shining Armor's line about "liquid pride" = brilliant.

5. After Twilight had set things right, and completed the ancient spell, I think she should have met Starswirl the Bearded in the alternate dimension, before seeing Princess Celestia. My pick for his voice? Either Ian McKellen, Michael Gambon, or Alan Rickman.

6. Second appearance of Twilight's parents. Only parents we ever saw in the entire series (so far).

7. I think the writers and animators were pandering to the fans too much with so many appearances of Derpy. Just one appearance would have been sufficient. At least they recrossed the eyes.

8. If there was a letter to be sent to Princess Celestia, it would have been written something like this: "Dear Princess Celestia: Today I learned that making mistakes is what makes us all normal ponies; admitting to your mistakes and working to fix them makes you an even better pony. I also learned that friends will forgive your mistakes and are willing to help you fix them, even if they were the ones affected by the mistakes. Your friends will see you through everything, and will teach you more than you can teach them. You can learn more from friends than you ever will from books, even those written by the best ponies that ever lived. Today I learned that friendship is a special bond, one of the heart, and it has a power that no spell can break. Yes, Princess, today I finally realized that friendship is magic."

ConMan wrote:1. So many songs! It felt like half the episode was devoted to songs which, as stated above, don't advance the plot. The first one is entirely "Gosh everything's going nicely it would be a shame if something ironically indicated a massive problem right while I was singing about the current lack of them".

Huh? The list of songs reads like a summary of the plot. It's important to separate out plot and exposition.

The Scyphozoa wrote:And Magical Mystery Cure is actually the third appearance of Twilight's parents, not the second. I think PatrickRsGhost just hasn't seen Cutie Mark Chronicles or Sisterhooves Social.

I haven't seen those two yet, but plan to. Eventually. When time allows.

If they appeared in both of those episodes, then "Magical Mystery Cure" would actually be their fourth appearance. Their third appearance was in "Canterlot Wedding Part 2".

I've never really cared for it. I saw the one with the apples because I saw the clip where someone got Ashleigh Ball to say a line from it. And I commented that Pinkie's drawings of her friends in Too Many Pinkie Pies looked startlingly like the .MOV characters/art. That's all my exposure has been.

I don't know if it was "trying too hard". I mean, at the part where Rainbow Dash grabs the sword, there's a flash of light and one frame with text that says something like, "This is so fucking retarded I can't believe I'm animating this."

3rdtry wrote:If there ever is another World War, I hope they at least have the decency to call it "World War 2: Episode One"

Okay, what day is it? What week is it? The last thing I can remember is watching a youtube video about little ponies with the intention to see what all the fuzz is about. Why is it suddenly two weeks later? Why am I behind my schedule? Why are there a dozen links to fanfics in in my bookmarks? Wait, did I just watch three seasons of a show and read 450k+ words in two weeks, while working regularly? Is this a mental disease?

I'm confused.

@VaniverI enjoyed your fanfiction so far. I'd like to comment more on it, but honestly right now everything about FIM is kind of a blurry mess in my head. Man, ponies are one hell of drug.